Putting their own beliefs ahead their customers’, the DMC Pharmacy, scheduled to open in Chantilly, VA., is among a growing number of “pro-life” pharmacies that will not sell any form of contraception. According to the Washington Post, the pharmacy, an expansion of Divine Mercy Care, asserts a “right of conscience” which means they won’t provide any services or products that they find objectionable. Details, inside…
The article says,
The most common, widely publicized conflicts have involved pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, morning-after pills and other forms of contraception. They say they believe that such methods can cause what amounts to an abortion and that the contraceptives promote promiscuity, divorce, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and other societal woes. The result has been confrontations that have left women traumatized and resulted in pharmacists being fired, fined or reprimanded.
In response, some pharmacists have stopped carrying the products or have opened pharmacies that do not stock any.
“This allows a pharmacist who does not wish to be involved in stopping a human life in any way to practice in a way that feels comfortable,” said Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life International, which promotes a pharmacist’s right to refuse to fill such prescriptions. The group’s Web site lists seven pharmacies around the country that have signed a pledge to follow “pro-life” guidelines, but Brauer said there are many others.
“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “And there’s new ones happening all the time.”
Virginia does not have any laws or regulations that would prohibit a pro-life pharmacy, and is not considering adopting any, according to the Virginia Board of Pharmacy.
Critics also worry that women might unsuspectingly seek contraceptives at such a store and be humiliated, or that women needing the morning-after pill, which is most effective when used quickly, may waste precious time.
“Rape victims could end up in a pharmacy not understanding this pharmacy will not meet their needs,” said Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center. “We’ve seen an alarming development of pharmacists over the last several years refusing to fill prescriptions, and sometimes even taking the prescription from the woman and refusing to give it back to her so she can fill it in another pharmacy.”
Everyone has their own personal beliefs regarding human reproduction. However, when it is your job to provide health services to the public, we don’t understand how those beliefs are more important than the customers’.
‘Pro-Life’ Drugstores Market Beliefs [Washington Post]
(Photo: Getty)
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@rickh925: Viagra is a treatment for erectile dysfunction. It can be classified as a disease state. However, overall, in our society, it is also classified as a recreational drug. It is not needed to live for ED.
It is also used for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, which gives the patient an average time to live of about 5 more years (the disease state, not the drug). However, Viagra is not called viagra then, it is called Revatio and is given as a different strength. Insurance companies do cover Revatio more than viagra because it is not considered to be a recreational drug and Viagra is, even though they have the exact same drug in them; sildenafil.
I never said Viagra shouldn’t be payed for by private insurances, I said it should not be payed for with tax payer money, which was previously medicaid. Medicaid is for poor people, yet they get expensive recreational drugs for free? Might as well give them a pot farm and some poppy fields.
Further more, my argument regarding viagra was not only just an FYI inquiry, but comparing the motives of ultra conservative pro lifers. I was not comparing Viagra, Plan B, and oral contraceptives based on disease states but was comparing them on a social scale while comparing the reactions of the conservative pro lifers. So you are correct in saying that one should not really compare Viagra and Plan B (directly). However, what you fail to understand is that I am not doing this directly, I am making an inquiry into the social reactions of a specific political and religious group. The are comparable when you consider the motives of the group itself. They are adamant about life, but when other topics come up about life, they turn a blind eye and keep beating the same old drum of Plan B and Birth Control. You took my words and twisted them or misunderstood them.
Once again, why are the ultra conservative pro lifers so uppity about Plan B and birth control methods when the state was funding recreational drugs to people and allowing sex offenders to get their hands on them and motivate them to go out and commit more sex acts? I guess it was because they never knew about it in the first place. Perhaps they are so focused on one specific thing, they don’t see what else is going on around them? Of course the entire argument can be reversed for ultra liberals as well.
Now, wasn’t this quite an off topic discussion?
-Phex
-3rd Year PharmD / MBA Candidate
*sigh* As one of the many women who takes BC not through choice but through the orders of her Gynecologist, this just makes me sick. Oh, bad pun.
I have liver damage through years of taking high strength painkillers to combat what was then undiagnosed Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome and Endometriosis. Would these pharmacists happily sell me said pain medication as opposed to BC knowing the damage they would do as opposed to the help I would get from taking the BC?
Sidenote, due to the extreme nature of my PCOS and Endometriosis, there’s no chance I can conceive naturally, so the “premptive abortion” point, in my case, is moot. What would they have to say about that?